Her finger swiped over the screen, ending the call without leaving any message.
"You brought your gun, didn't you?" Tucker asked her softly.
"Yes." Her expression had changed completely. She didn't appear angry with him any longer. Now she was worried, tense-the same way he felt.
Tucker nodded. "I'm going in first." Because Malone could be in there...and if he wasn't answering his phone, the guy could be hurt. That was option one. Another option-this could be a trap and, in that case, he wanted them both to be ready. "Stay behind me."
He pushed the door open fully. "Malone!" Tucker called out. "It's Agent Frost! I want to talk with you, now."
But there was no response.
He stepped forward and...his foot slipped on a piece of paper. He glanced down and saw...roses. A sketch of roses.
"That's my tattoo design," Dawn whispered from behind him.
His gaze slid along the hallway. There wasn't just one piece of paper there. Dozens of pages were scattered on the floor-copies, all of the same image. The cluster of roses that Dawn had on her shoulder.
"Malone!" Now his voice was a rough shout. "Show yourself!"
Nothing. Silence.
He strode forward. Turned to the right...
"This was Jinx's work room," Dawn said, her voice barely carrying to him.
The room had been trashed. Everything inside had been smashed. Mirrors broken, her tattoo inks thrown across the room. Utterly destroyed.
And right in the middle of that chaos, he saw a phone.
Tucker marched forward and stared down at the screen, making sure not to touch the phone. He didn't want to contaminate the scene and destroy evidence.
Missed Call.
Malone's phone. He whirled around.
Her phone vibrated. Another text.
She pulled out her phone, stared at the screen and blanched.
"Dawn?"
"It's...her. This time, the text is coming from Jinx's number. And it's her."
He grabbed her phone-and saw that the image she'd been sent was of Jinx. A very alive Jinx. The woman was tied up and she was in the freezer, staring up with horror stamped on her face.
"He sent it from her phone. He has Jinx's phone."
The killer had her phone, and he'd lured Dawn to the tattoo shop. He'd set a trap and Tucker had let them both walk right into it. "We're leaving, now." He grabbed her elbow. "Come on-"
"No! We have to search the whole place! Malone could be here-he could be hurt. The bastard who killed Jinx and Red-he could have gone after Malone, too." She jerked away from him. "We have to search for him! We have to-"
Her phone vibrated again. Another text that had come from Jinx's phone.
I see you.
The SOB was watching them. Tucker caught Dawn's arm and dragged her from the back room. He did a fast sweep of that building, looking for Malone, but no one else was there. Just them...
///
And the longer we stay, the more danger we are in.
"We're getting out of here, now." He headed for the back door.
Her fucking phone vibrated again. Tucker looked back, glancing down at the screen.
You were supposed to be alone.
His eyes narrowed. Too bad. She's fucking not alone. "When we go outside, you stay behind me. We'll go straight to the SUV." He'd get her away from the scene and then he'd call in backup to search the shop and he'd get a crime scene team out to dust for prints. The team needed to find Malone, and he wanted to scout the area.
He rushed outside, moving fast, sweeping the scene, and Dawn was right with him. She didn't hesitate at all as they rounded the back of the building and then headed for that little alley.
He was going in first and-
A gunshot blasted. He saw the glint of the gun just before it fired and he jumped to the side, grabbing Dawn and taking her down with him. He felt the heat of the bullet burn across his arm, and then he heard the thunder of frantic footsteps, racing away.
Oh, no, you son of a bitch. You're not getting away that fast.
"Stay here," he snarled at Dawn and then he leaped to his feet. He took off running down that alley. He could see the guy in front of him, a guy wearing a black hoodie and running hell fast. Tucker pumped his legs faster, ignored the blood wetting his shirt and rushed after the bastard who'd dared to take a shot at them.
* * *
"STAY HERE?" DAWN jumped to her feet and stared after Tucker with her mouth hanging open. She was pretty sure the guy had been shot. And he'd just run away, acting as if he weren't hurt at all, but...
She looked down. That was definitely blood on her shirt. Blood that wasn't hers. She checked her gun. Good. She was-